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The Cousins
"The Cousins" (Marco & Leonel) are twin brothers and hitmen for the Juárez Mexican drug cartel. Despite an austere, mechanical physicality and virutally non-verbal interaction, they are a fearsome presence and kill without hesitation or emotion. When we first meet them, they arrive in an expensive Mercedes at a small village in the Mexican desert. Dressed in well-cut suits and very distinctive cowboy boots tipped with silver skulls, they find men and women crawling on their bellies up a dusty, adobe-lined desert road. The Cousins join them, leading up to a path toward a candlelit shrine to Santa Muerte, a Mexican deity representing death. The two men rise to their feet. One makes an offering; the other pins something to the shrine: a sketch of "Heisenberg." After crossing the border into the States, they track down Tuco's invalid uncle, Tio, in a nursing home. Retrieving a Ouija board from a pile of board games, they help Tio use his bell to spell out one name: WALTER WHITE. The pair soon after show up at Walt's house with a very shiny axe where, coincidentally, after living away for two weeks, Walt had returned and broken into his own home. The Cousins let themselves in while Walt is, unsuspectingly, taking a shower. They enter his room and sit on his bed, but before they can take any action, one of them receives a text message that reads: "POLLOS." The two exchange a look, and once Walt exits the shower, his room is empty. ("Caballo Sin Nombre") Still wanting revenge against Walt, the Cousins set up a meeting with Juan Bolsa, who speaks on their behalf with Gus Frings. Gus, who controls all of the drug trafficking north of the border into New Mexico, tells them that they cannot kill Walt as he is still valuable to his business. Gus, however, says that they may kill him whenever he is finished with Walt (I.F.T.). A few days later, the Cousins become impatient and visit Gus at Los Pollos where they sit silently watching him. Growing tired of their intimidation tactics, Gus sets up a meeting in the desert. He questions why they want to kill Walter so badly, noting that although he may have "betrayed" their cousin, Tuco, he wasn't the one who murdered him. Marco says that the man who killed Tuco is a DEA agent and Juan Bolsa strictly forbids them from targeting any law enforcement. Gus tells them that it is he who controls the territory north of the border, not Bolsa, so that should be his decision to make. He gives them the name of the DEA agent in question, Hank Schrader, a tells them that he hopes his death may satisfy them ("Sunset"). After placing Hank's picture on a makeshift Santa Muerte shrine, the Cousins purchase kevlar vests and track Hank down to a store parking lot. Hank, who earlier in the day was suspended, was unarmed when he receives a mysterious phone call. The voice on the other end, distorted by a modifier, warns Hank that he was one minute before the Cousins arrive to kill him. ("One Minute"). Category:Characters